Twenty-First Century Fox Beats Earnings Estimates

Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOXA) released its latest earnings report tonight, posting adjusted earnings of 42 cents per share on $8.42 billion in revenue. Analysts had been expecting earnings per share of 38 cents and $8 billion in revenue.

Breaking down Fox’s earnings

The company saw $3.35 billion in cable network revenue, compared to $2.95 billion in the same quarter a year ago. TV revenue was $1.03 billion for the quarter, while revenue from filmed entertainment was $2.8 billion, a 38% year over year increase. Fox cited the popularity of its film X-Men: Days of Future Past as being the main driver of its significant film segment revenue increase. So far, the film has grossed $740 million.

One trouble area for Twenty-First Century Fox was its TV division. OIBDA declined from $213 million last year to $145 million this year. The company stated that lower ad revenue more than offset higher revenues from retransmission consents. Fox’s TV segment advertising revenue declined 11% year over year as ratings on its popular reality show American Idol declined.

In addition to the fourth fiscal quarter, Fox also reported full-year results. The company saw a 15% increase in overall revenue, which rose to $31.87 billion for the full fiscal year.

Earlier today, it was revealed that Fox had decided to stop pursuing a merger with Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX). Time Warner ended up smashing earnings estimates not long after Fox walked away, and now it looks like Fox has done the same.

Fox returns capital

During the fourth fiscal quarter, Fox bought back 30.1 million Class A shares for $1.02 billion. During the full fiscal year, the company repurchased 114.9 million shares for $3.77 billion. On Monday, the board of directors authorized an additional buyback of $6 billion worth of Class A shares.

Fox management has also declared a dividend of 12.5 cents per Class A and Class B share. The dividend is payable on Oct. 15 to shareholders of record on Sept. 10.